The applicant had already proposed (Patent Document 1) an exercise assist device which swings a seat with a lumber portion of the user placed on the seat, so that the user puts a variable load resulting from body weight of the user on his/her legs on foot rests, and enable thereby the user to exercise the trunk and lower limbs. This exercise assist device allows the user to exercise through contraction of muscles in the thighs, also for users suffering from knee pain, for instance diabetic patients. The sugar metabolism associated with muscular contraction contributes to ameliorating lifestyle diseases and the like. The exercise assist device is also useful for building muscle in users having some lower body impairment.
When the user puts too much weight on the seat, however, the upper body is not loaded correctly on the legs, so that the load resulting from the weight of the body does not bear on the legs. This precludes achieving the desired exercise results, and is thus problematic. Expected results may therefore fail to be achieved even after exercising for a prescribed time.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-58733